Redemption
by squishmich
Summary: In a time of turmoil, two must raise against the odds and defeat the underlying evils lurking in New York. Understanding, deception, and committment...both Rogue and the Wolverine must endure. Please Read and Review! Rated Mature for language and situatio
1. Chapter 1

A man stood in his office in one of the top floors of one of the tallest skyscrapers in New York City, and looked out over the city. The city was a war zone, like much of the rest of the United States and had been so on and off for the last ten years. Hard to imagine at times that it's was only ten years since Magneto tried to mutate the world leaders. His plan was foiled, thank God, but the irony was that the plan backfired on him. His, admittedly laudable, goal was to unite mutants and ordinary humans. By wrong means certainly but the goal itself he would have agreed to once. But the plan couldn't have failed more spectacularly.

Ordinary humans had been mindful of mutants for some time back then, and even feared them. When what had really happened on the Statue of Liberty that night had leaked out, the fear and mindfulness quickly turned to anger and hate. Even towards the so-called X-men, despite that they were the ones that had averted the danger. No, not despite. Because they were the ones. They showed quite clearly that their powers could be deadly. What if they too were to act against humanity? And the population at large didn't take kindly to people, mutants or otherwise, taking the law in their own hands.

So, the law that required that mutants were forced to be registered as such was passed quickly. It didn't stay that way for very long however. Professor Xavier and his students used every opportunity they could find to fight for a law they found being unconstitutional not to mention morally wrong. They only succeeded in taking it beyond registration though. Three years later mutants had no rights under the law. It was no crime to kill a mutant. In fact, rather the reverse. If you killed a mutant you would get the equivalent of a year's salary put into your bank-account with a "Thank you" note from the government attached. It wasn't even called killing, everything to separate the mutants from humans. It was called retirement. The police-departments in every major city even had special units specifically put together to fight mutants.

When the man had come that far in his thoughts, he noticed some thunder across the town close to central park. Considering that it was a cloud free day he assumed that it was the mutant known as Storm being taken care of.

True enough. Only a minute later he got a phone call from one of his subordinates. "Ororo Munroe has been taken care of. Do you want her dead or should we attempt the transforming-process?"

"Dead. She's too dangerous and to strong-willed to be transformed, Mr. Creed."

"Consider it done." The man growled on the other line and the phone hung up.

Mr. Creed, the man thought. Formerly known as Sabre-tooth. The only one of Magneto's brotherhood still alive, and only because he was found to be useful. The only mutants who were free to live were the ones that could be used to track down other mutants. The rest became retired on sight or forced to live in sheltered areas. Professor Xavier's former school was one of those areas. The school is no more but a large concrete-building surrounded by electrical fences and devices designed to remove mutant powers was now the living area of mutants that either had harmless powers or were due for the transformation process.

It was nothing Xavier or his students could do anything about either. Xavier himself was dead. He was one of the first ones to get executed together with Jean Grey and Cable. Telepaths were too dangerous to live. The men known as Kurt Wagner or Nightcrawler and others like Kitty Pryde, aka Shadowcat died in their attempts to rescue them. And now, with Storm dead, that left only two remaining members of the X-men. The Wolverine and Rogue, somewhere out there Cyclops. He had simply vanished after Jean's death, now simply a mutant myth. Rumors had it that the Wolverine and Rogue were leading two different resistance-teams but nothing that has been proved yet. If it was true, they needed to be taken care of. The teams they might be leading were most likely former students of Xavier's and wanted revenge.

"Excuse me, Sir."

The inter-com. "Yes?"

"Officers Creed and Rasputin here to see you."

"Let them in." Two large men walked in, burly and irrigated. Rasputin suffered burn marks from a possible lightening strike.

"Creed and Rasputin. I take it that Storm's dead now?"

"Positive sir. Her body's being taken downtown to the crematory as we speak."

"Excellent. Now, I have another appointment for you. Creed, your mission is to hunt down the Wolverine and if possible bring him to the transformation facility. If the latter is found to be undoable he is due for retirement."

"On my way sir."

"And you Rasputin. Same object but different subject. Find me Rogue."

"As you command, sir."

After the officers had left, the man once again looked out through the window pondering if they will succeed. When he noticed the houses burning and the camp just two blocks from where he was, the camp that would have made Hitler proud he felt ashamed. Ashamed over what he had become. He considers denying it all but can't help but asking himself the nagging questions.

"Did I choose something I could regret? Did I do something I should regret?" He immediately regrets the questions because deep down, he knows that the answer was yes.

"Is this the place I used to call Fatherland?" Yes, but it was his doing and it has been twisted. Not Magneto's. Not Xavier's. Not the X-men. His fault. It was his fault that America has become the twisted image of Nazi Germany. And he was too much a coward to try to change things. This man would just be branded "mutant-friendly" and executed without a trial.

With that, Robert Kelly left his office for the day knowing that Wolverine and Rogue soon will be either his agents or dead. The thought did nothing to alleviate his guilty conscience.

Robert Kelly wearily made his way homewards, passing countless of security zones on his way. Not really countless but it feels that way when you have to verify the electronic id-card against how your fingerprint, DNA-signature, the look of your iris and/or the makeup of your blood is every time you move from one zone to the other. Three zones can then be a nightmare. More zones then that and one is speaking of the circle of hell Dante forgot to write about.

Still worse if one happened to have a certain political power. To the security forces that was. The average Joe Public wasn't aware of how much power he really has. For people like that though, the security procedures were even more thorough if such a thing could be imagined. Not many people were in category five, that was for people with the most sensitive knowledge and thus with the necessity of the utmost in security, but Robert Kelly was one of the very few. There were almost only people high up in the ranks of the military there and a couple of genetic specialists. In New York, there were only five people all in all. Robert Kelly, Moira McTaggert, Paul Derret, Valeri Cooper and Henry Gyrich. All involved in fighting the mutant menace in one way or the other.

"A fight we're losing" Robert thought to himself. And not because the mutants were stronger. Sure, their powers could be real intimidating and lethal but modern technology could come up with defenses against them all and had done just that as well. It was just that...how do you fight against nature? For every mutant that was terminated at least one or two new were born or their powers manifested themselves. All implications of mutant registration and termination hadn't been thoroughly thought through back when the laws were passed, Robert admitted. In hindsight they should have. It was blatantly obvious when you come to think about it and was not just letting your fear and paranoia rule the process of creating new laws. The futility of a new sort of "final solution" was just mind numbing. You could just as well try to empty the pacific from water by drinking it up.

Still, now ten years later and they were still trying. One would think that people would have noticed by now that the numbers of mutants weren't decreasing, but no. There was at least some ten retirements a day in New York only and that figure has been pretty constant since the law was passed.

"Sigh. Even if I dared to try to remove those laws again, I don't have the strength anymore. I'm not young and the last ten years has aged me more than that. I'm too old for this." With a resigned sigh he got out of the car and climbed the stairs to his apartment. The apartment that was his lifeline together with his wife Sharon and 14-year old daughter Michelle. The job of being "official mutant hunter" was draining and without some semblance of normalcy at home he would have been six feet under already. But he was always filled with such a shame whenever he came home and saw them. Because he was constantly lying to them over what he does for a living. The Senator title had been long since lost and he had managed to convince them that he got tired of life in the politics and was now just happy having an ordinary job, everything to keep up the facade that he was not directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, mutants and ordinary people getting caught in the crossfire or were mistaken for being a mutant.

But today the apartment was empty. Sharon and Michelle were doing something downtown but he'd be damned if he could remember what. But an evening with the apartment all to himself was rather pleasant, as long as he knows it was just temporary. This, he decided, would be an evening just watching TV. As long as nothing cuts of the power with happened with monotonous regularity. The news barely mentioned the demise of Storm. The general public as well as the reporters had become jaded. The news of yet another mutant retirement wasn't really news anymore. It was expected so in most cases the media didn't even bother to report it. Only when high-profiles such as Storm, Cable, Jean Grey or Shadowcat were retired it was mentioned and then just barely with a passing comment between the sport results and the weather. Some oldies movie was shown afterwards. Certainly not the best movie ever made but a good way to wind down from work. It worked excellently because he had dozed of before the first commercial.

Suddenly, he was woken up by the phone. Groggily he rose to answer, "Robert Kelly."

"Oh, thank God you were home Robert."

"Sharon? What's wrong?"

"Come down to the police-station immediately. I...I can't tell you over the phone." The voice strained.

"On my way."

Thirty minutes later he had managed to get to the police-station and found where in that place Sharon was. She was red-eyed from crying and gave him a massive hug before starting to cry again.

"Sharon? What's wrong? Where's Michelle?"

"She...she...she's down in the morgue. She was retired an hour ago."

"What? She's not a mutant." He cried, eyes widening.

"Sure she was Mr. Kelly." A figure walked to him, holding a clipboard.

"And who are you?"

"One of the police-men that were sent to that restaurant your daughter so kindly lit on fire. Well, one mutant less to cause trouble. Which I'm sure you approve of."

"What the hell are you talking about? It's my daughter that's dead!"

"Not dead. We prefer retired. One heck of a difference, don't you agree boss?"

"Boss?"

"Sure. I'm part of the Mutant-hunter division. You're the highest ranking officer there."

"Robert? What's he talking' about?" Sharon asked tearfully. Her hands began to shake under the stress.

"Nothing."

"Oh, so Mrs. Kelly didn't know. Me and my big mouth."

"If my husband won't tell me, why won't you?"

"Sure ma'am. I'm pretty sure you've got the gist of it already. Yah see, your husband here is the in charge of the policemen responsible for retiring mutants."

Realization dawned upon man that's Sharon Kelly and threw herself against her husband, kicking and hitting him.

"You murderer! You killed our daughter!" Robert Kelly didn't do much to defend himself; he merely tried to avoid being hit too hard. The police man managed to drag Mrs. Kelly away from him.

"Robert" she pleaded, "please tell me this man's lying."  
Now that the truth already had been spilt, Mr. Kelly found that he couldn't look his wife in the eyes and realized that he was silently admitting to his guilt. Mrs. Kelly at that first seemed unnaturally calm, just looking him in the eye asking "Where do you have your swastika Robert?" then she said suddenly; becoming frantic. Yelling at the top of her lungs, she grabbed his arms. "You'll burn in hell for this you bastard!" She ran away in blind fury, tears dripping down her face.

Robert Kelly tried to run after his wife, but was stopped by the police officer.

"Let her go." He said calmly.

"She's my wife damn you!" Kelly ordered his face contorted and expressionless.

"Yes and your daughter is down in the morgue after having been retired as a mutant. I know I don't need to tell you what can happen to people thought of as being mutie-lovers. Remember Kenneth Irons just a year ago."

As much as it pained Kelly to admit it, he knew the officer is right. Irons had been a promising district attorney that went, stupidly enough, public with his opinion that even mutants should have the right for a fair trial. He wasn't pro-mutant by any means - just someone that held the banner of human rights high. One night his car exploded when he started it. No one knows exactly who turned his car into a massive ticking time bomb but the general consensus is that it was the "Friendship of Humanity". And the newspapers had not condemned the act. Rather, they had aired the opinion that whoever did it deserved a medal for acting in the nation's best interest. Kelly had heard all about Irons' mishap and secretly admired the bomber on a job well done.

So, he had to keep silent if he wanted to keep his life. Sharon's life was in danger too. _The latter one's the most important,_ he thought, _even if she hates my guts now. At least she's alive. That's more than Michelle is, and Michelle won't even get a burial_. Another right the mutants don't have anymore. After retirement, their bodies just get cremated. He doesn't know how it works in a crematory so what happens with the ashes; he doesn't know and doesn't care. All he knows is that any proven mutant doesn't get a grave where the relatives and friends could go to mourn their loved ones. The idea is that you're not supposed to mourn retirements - you're supposed to celebrate. In the beginning the city even paid for fireworks to be used the same evening a retirement took place but that became too annoying and expensive in the end. Every night looked like some perversion of the fourth of July. So, now it's settled with just a large display at Times Square. A display that showed the number of retirements up until now. A number that was extremely high and continued to go higher. It was something obscene with flaunting deaths, even if they go under another name, that publicly.

With that thought, Kelly left the police station and headed for home and dreading the fight he knows he's gonna have if Sharon has gone home too.

The time for the next step in his operation had to be set in motion. The mutants, the ones he had loathed over the last several years were finally going to receive the apocalypse they had been demanding for. Kelly's fingers twitched as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the familiar number.

"Kelly here. Get it going." He said his voice deadly calm. His eyes froze over with hatred.

**_Meanwhile, somewhere else_**

"You know Storm was 'retired' later today?" Logan said, lowering his head into his hands. It wasn't much of a question, more of a statement and with a lot of venom in the voice, especially when it spit out the word 'retirement'.

"Yeah, I saw it. On the news and I've also noticed that the number of 'retirements' are slowly increasing. The display has increased by 20 since yesterday." Marie replied leaning over to stroke his back with her gloved hand.

"You okay?" He asked.

"As okay as one can are all things considered. Storm's dead and many of my team are gone as well. My team is not up to much fighting anymore I'm afraid." Marie felt a rush of emotions build up inside her, controlling the urge to unleash hell on to Logan.

"Not much? How much is that?"

"The other people in the team are not fighters so we have to fight in other means. We found this new guy about a week ago, calls himself Cypher, that's something of a computer wizard. We're planning to use him to hack into the city's mainframes to see what we can find."

"Good, good." Marie said, "What about you and your team?"

"You know me. I'm always okay. And the team's holding up surprisingly well considering that Storm was on my team. In fact, we have something planned but you know I can't tell you what in case something goes wrong." Logan said his voice low.

"I know." She nodded in understanding.

"And we found out something else too." He looked deep into her eyes.

"Yeah, what's that?"

"Creed and Rasputin has been sent out to find us. You can take care of Rasputin if he finds you can't you?"

"Yeah." At that, she stops. "Excuse me for a while." She listens intently on her ear piece, her hand held lightly to her ear. Her eyes met his while she listened. "Some news. Cypher's into the police mainframe and managed to eaves-drop on a conversation between Kelly and a 'hunter'. Turns out Kelly's daughter was a mutant and was also retired today."

"Wonder if that's good or bad. Might be a way of taking advantage of it perhaps." He said, adjusting the top button on his uniform and pulling at the base of his black leather gloves.

"Perhaps." Marie was worried, yet she hid her troubled mind from him. The last thing he needed was to focus his attention on her.

Silence reigned for a while until the two old friends reluctantly get ready to leave. They know they have to; otherwise the consequences could be extreme. It wouldn't do anyone any good if the leaders of both resistance teams would be 'retired' the same way.

"You know", she says, "one of these days we should try to kill the leaders of this tyranny state. Kelly, Gyrich, McTaggert. Those people." She suggested, her voice stern and her eyes unwavering.

"What would that accomplish? There are only others too willing to step into their place." He asks her, shaking his head. There were too many important leaders in this whole operation to kill and even if they managed to kill Kelly, someone would instantly replace him and his regime.

"True. But it would show that we do not intend to just be their prey. And if I have to die, I'd rather die fighting for what I believe in instead of just being defensive most of the time." Marie said.

"Good point. But you know that if we do that, we're as good as dead." He told her softly. The thought of losing her once again would kill him.

"We already are dead, Logan. Our bodies just don't know it yet."

"Yeah, guess you're right. Be careful Marie." he says, kissing her quickly and hugging her close before heading their separate ways. Each one was dreading the thought that they may never see each other again.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N – I don't own anything…I was supposed to mention this before tee hee. I wish I owned but I don't. Too bad for me. Here's another update…I need reviews to tell me what people are thinking and if I should continue. Please, please review!

Logan was in a really ugly mood. Not all that uncommon if truth to be told but he was in an even ugly mood than usual. Heaven have pity on the poor souls that, in a fit of stupidity, might try to get in his way now.

Life had never been easy on him. First thing he remembers was waking up in the snow somewhere in Canada, almost 20 years ago by now, with only small glimpses of what his life might have been before that. Since then things have mostly gone downhill. First, living the life day by day, fighting in cage fights to make enough money to get food, cigars, beer and petrol for the old beaten up camper. Then, fifteen years of that kind of life later, he accidentally met Marie when she was on the run. They both soon became full members of the mutant band called the X-men. During the years as a reputable cage fighter, he'd met many women and taken most back to his room and simply had a fuck. With Marie, it was a different relationship. Despite her being 18 when they met, he secretly desired her, never allowing her to know his true feelings until many years later. She dated a couple times while living in the mansion; mainly Bobby for a few years. It was only after the first 'retirements' of mutants in New York that Marie tearfully confessed her feelings of long time love for Logan. At first he didn't know how to react. They had made love in his bed, both longing for the passionate embrace of physical contact. She had just turned 21 and desired him from the moment she had met him, and he felt the same way. No other woman had gotten under his skin like his Marie. The relationship was hard…Logan disappeared for a couple months and Marie waited patiently for his return. Her skin caused many problems…as it was lethal to touch but with concentration, she could control the flow. Logan had returned back to Marie after leaving, and to find her still waiting for him. Ever since then, they had been together whenever they could, each gave a promise to love each other forever until death separated them.

But reality wanted something else. One of X-men's ongoing missions, the most important one, was trying to keep humanity from shunning and outlawing people born with what's known as the X-factor. It was the odd genetic change that makes certain people born differently and in most cases more powerful. That mission was a complete and utter failure. Soon, mutants of all kinds were fair game for everyone to kill. Most of the X-men have fallen and were now long since dead and gone. The mansion's been replaced with a transformation facility. A fancier way of saying "brainwashing" and "programming". Mutants particularly suited for tracking down and "retiring" other mutants were brought there to be "converted". The only two remaining X-men members were Wolverine and Rogue, hiding out in separate places across New York City. Not out of free will but out of necessity. They're the ones with the most experience and fighting-skills and they just couldn't take the risk that they both might be "retired" at the same time.

And today one of Logan's friends and team members had gone down. Ororo Munroe, formally known as Storm. She had been brought down by that bastard Creed, no doubt. All of that combined into making Logan the epitome of rage contained in one body; a body that was just itching to kill something. Passion was waiting to be unfurled. Logan also knew he couldn't take that risk. Not now. First, he had to get back to his and his team's hideout. The plan they've been perfecting for some time needed to be completed and carried out before he could allow the grim reaper to draw his number.

So he chose stealth over violence. He will save violence is for another day. Not today. He might be hard to kill but to tempt death or "retirement" as it's called where mutants are concerned is just not an option for the time being, however tempting it could be just to call it quits. But there's much more at stake than his own life and needs. Whatever Logan is called, selfish or coward is not amongst those things. He's not quitter either so he had never really considered the calling it quits an idea. Just something he couldn't avoid thinking of when he was feeling downright depressed over the state of affairs. Who was it that said "Something's rotten in the state of Denmark"? He had no idea but he all too well knew what was rotten in the state of New York. And the whole fucking United States at large for that matter. And he didn't like it one bit. He hated it with every fiber of his soul and he was determined to change things, but he knew that he and his friends most likely couldn't change everything. They could at most hope for turning the tides somewhat so a change might, in time, come.

That was when Logan noticed a familiar scent. He had been too caught up in his own thoughts so he was caught a little off guard and was promptly hit by a large tree. "Not again" he thought, feeling the odd sense of De-ja Vu. He didn't get knocked out this time though, he wasn't that much surprised this time.

"Long time no see Creed. Not long enough though." he grinned, eyes narrowing with the familiar sound of snikt when he released his claws.

"Cut the small talk, runt. You won't walk away alive this time." Creed rumbled, his large frame overpowering.

"Oh, really. Tough words for a traitor." Logan growled, claws at the ready.

Both Creed and Logan were extraordinary fighters, with healing-factors to boot. Neither was easy to kill, for ordinary people or other mutants. The two men were rather even-matched. Creed's greater strength could have given him a slight edge if it hadn't been for the extended reach Logan's claws gave him not to mention Logan's greater intellect.

The fight still raged back and forth for many minutes, and Logan noticed that they were attracting an audience. Creed was known to be one of the official mutant-hunters so he was safe if he proved to be the winner. Logan however would have to face a hostile crowd if he killed Creed. "Shit! This is not going well" Logan cursed to himself. Neither one of the fighters had pulled their punches in anyway but the on-looking crowd gave Logan a new incentive. He had to finish this quickly before the crowd became too large so he could try to vanish quickly.

"Creed!" he yelled at the larger man, "Consider your immunity to retirement being revoked!" he said and lunged at the man. The claws of his right hand went into the abdomen of Creed. The gruff man howled and rammed his own claws at Logan's arms, creating severe cuts.

Logan quickly withdrew his claws and slumped to the ground. Saber-tooth smirked, blood running down his chest, and quickly took off when a beeping sounded from his pocket. "Not over runt." He barked over his shoulder. The on-looking crowd was stunned by the fight. Logan hastily made his disappearance after his wounds healed up, growling in the back of his throat.

Robert Kelly was furious. Really, really furious. Nothing was going his way and he was seriously beginning to think he'd been born under a bad star or something. First he loses his beloved daughter, thanks to the laws that he himself had caused to come into effect. That in itself is enough to drive a man over the edge and to make matters worse, his wife since 30 years back had taken the first flight back home to Minneapolis when she had found exactly how much blood he had on his hands. All the walls seemed to be crumbling down around him and there was seemingly nothing he could do about it. Except bury himself in work to get his mind of it.

Only problem with that particular strategy is that work leads to another set of problems, frustrations and anger. The attempted death of Victor Creed was one. His best agent nearly cut to pieces. Sure - Rasputin, Worthington, Callisto, Cassidy, Allerdyce and the rest are good in their own rights but none with Creed's uncanny capability of finding and besting his prey. But they could be better if they hadn't been forced through the transformation process, which kills some of the subject's initiative capability. They lose some of their flexibility. Creed hadn't gone through that. All that had to be done to make him a mutant hunter was to play on that bloodlust of his. An opportunity to kill and maim was all the incentive he had needed. He was the best one he had had. Apparently, it was not good enough. At least not when there's someone even better. Both Creed and he himself had seriously underestimated the Wolverine.

And what if they had underestimated Rogue as well? Would he lose yet an agent to her? And if Creed couldn't retire the Wolverine, who could? Some with magnetic powers would have been the obvious choice but Magneto and Polaris had both been retired so that option was closed.

He couldn't see a way out of that dilemma.

**_Meanwhile, somewhere else_**

Marie couldn't help but wonder. Wonder if she'd been too cocky and self-confident when she said she'd have no problem handling Rasputin. Or was she just trying to reassure Logan? She wasn't sure herself but knew that even if she could handle Rasputin it would be a close call. Very close call. After all these years, she wasn't the same Marie that hid away in Logan's camper. She had acquired some additional powers when she had to defend herself against other mutants and has become quite good at some martial arts as well, even if she knows that some people wouldn't have a problem trashing her in a competition. Logan's memories of Japan and learning the martial art of aikido helped her situation more. She meditated often and constantly worked on her form to a state of utter perfection. Around the same time, just after Logan had vanished for several months, the lessons with Xavier had paid off. She had finally gained control of her deadly skin and was able to switch it on and off with concentration. Her concentration then had lain with Logan's return.

But life in New York wasn't a competition. And fighting for your life makes that crystal clear. It also makes it clear that once has to fight dirty to stay alive. All things combined, she becomes an efficient killing machine if she needed to be. She preferred not to be that though, which was why she led the team that relies more on stealth than strength. In fact, she could hardly sleep for a whole week the first time she had to kill. The guilt over that still haunted her at times and at those times, the only thing on her mind is that it should have been her.

But Rasputin's though too. A guy that can turn himself into steel has to be. Not only was he extremely hard to knock out if nothing else. And he's not a dummy. Good thing he's not too good at tracking people down. That was Creed's and Logan's area of expertise. So she was the safest for tonight. Good thing too because she was way too exhausted to put up a good fight. In the end, it turned out that probably was not true. She was safe for the night and made it back to her safe (relatively speaking) haven, where Hank, Bobby, Cypher and her other partners already were.

**_Later the same day, back at Kelly's office_**

Kelly was still considering his dilemma, but no nearer to a perfect solution to it. Only a solution involving several hunters, cornering Wolverine and eventually bringing him down. A solution he wasn't at all happy with since it could involve several hunters being killed or permanently disabled.

He was pacing back and forth in his office while thinking it over when the intercom beeped.

"Yes?" He answered.

"Two men here to see you Mr. Kelly." A female voice rang out over the intercom.

"Who? I'm not expecting anyone."

"A Dr. Trask and a Mr. Shaw."

"I don't recognize those names but send them in anyway. I need some distraction here."

"Very well sir." The woman replied.

"Afternoon, Gentlemen. I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you before so I'll get right to the point here. To what do I owe this pleasure?" Kelly lifted his head as the two men walked in Kelly's office several minutes later.

"We have a proposal for you, Mr. Kelly." Shaw said quietly.

"Which involves?" Kelly's thoughts were intrigued.

"A permanent solution to the mutant menace. A more, shall we say elegant and efficient solution than those mutant hunters you employ." A smile crossed the man's lips, while Dr. Trask stood silent.

"I must say you got my attention there." Kelly said, sitting down in his chair and relaxing back slightly.

"I thought it would. Our Sentinels will deal with those annoying rebels and outlaws in a matter of weeks." Finally Trask said his voice husky.

Kelly doesn't know what to make of that. "Okay, your bait has caught the fish Dr. Trask. What about the program involving Rogue that I've heard through the grapevine?"

"Consider it a done deal to put it simply." Shaw answered.

"And the sentinels, why would they be better than our current approach?"

"They much harder to kill for starters and if I'm not wrong you just lost your best hunter?" He replied, placing his hands in his pockets. Trask glanced around the office with little interest.

"Yes. But you said for starters. What more?"

"Well, it's got a mutant-tracker built in. Xavier had one too when he was alive but he used it for other purposes. When a mutant's found the Sentinel can use a variety of different state-of-the-art weapons to retire the said mutant. It also has a very complex strategy-software that improves over time to predict how the mutant might defend itself."

"And what does this thing look like?" Kelly asked, leaning forward.

"Why?" Trask asked in return, picking up his paper weight and tossing it from hand to hand. A grin crept onto his lips.

"Well, if it's an obvious looking robot I think the mutants might figure something's up since we have none walking the streets of New York now."

"True. As for looks, there are two models. One giant-sized that was designed to defend important buildings against mutant attacks. Giant-sized means that it can be seen across New York, practically."

"That won't do. Not in a crowded city."

"Agreed. Which is why we have Sentinel MK-II, which is indistinguishable from a human. More so than the late Creed or Beast for instance. But still as good as MK-I." Shaw said coolly. Dr. Trask replaced the paper weight with a small thud

"Ah, that's better. But why come to me with this? If you want me to use these things in New York, fine by me but it's really the mayor that decides that. Not me."

"Well, yes. But you are the one that can tell us if it's feasible to go ahead." Shaw said.

"How long will it take to put the project in motion Dr. Trask?" Kelly was now keenly interested.

"It has already began phase one Mr. Kelly. All I ask is that you provide us with a few test subjects on the side for minor procedures and invasive technology training for our employees. Preferably mutants." Dr. Trask said, smiling larger. His eyes were piercing and invasive.

"Let me see if I've got this straight. You want some of the mutants living as prisoners to do what? I thought you said you needed Rogue and the Wolverine?"

"Well, at first those two were the main section of the project but it turns out, the later phases we have not tested and we would like to prefect the tests before trying on the real subjects."

"And you're sure this project will actually work in the end?" Kelly asked, his eyes narrowing.

"There really is no choice for it not to. Tax payers hard earned money has gone into this…that's billions Mr. Kelly. The balance of nature, as we say, hangs in the balance and I hope to tip the scale."

"Awfully tempting…what do I receive if I participate?"

"Two things. One. The mutants will die out making the city safe again. And two, Mr. Shaw and I are businessmen. We don't plan on taking and giving nothing in return. You gain recongnition, future votes and stability both financially and mentally." He said, running a hand threw his hair. Trask reached into his pocket and tossed a thick wad of bills. "Consider this the first of many 'gifts'." He said.

Kelly looked down at the money and pursed his lips together. "Then gentlemen, let me take this up with the mayor and get back to you." Kelly announced standing up and shaking the men's hands.

"Sounds fine, Mr. Kelly." Dr. Trask said eyeing him carefully.

"Give us the mutants we need to further the project, and the so badly desired 'Judgment Day' will come about." Shaw nodded.

Both men turned quietly and left the office, leaving Kelly to his thoughts.

Kelly himself was not as sure of it. Was he prepared to take the wrap if everything went to shit? What if innocent humans were killed in the process? But Robert Kelly knew that in reality he had no choice. The mayor had been on his back for quite some time now, demanding to see some results…and not just some Storm or Jubilation Lee being retired. No, more noticeable results. He needed results that were showing that the mutant population was decreasing. And a bunch of mutant hunters just didn't seem to cut it. He had his doubts that a battle squadron of Sentinel robots would either but the mayor was a stubborn man. He most assuredly would back this project if it has even one very slim chance of making a difference.

And to be honest, letting loose a murderous robot or a murderous Victor Creed - was there really a difference? Both can cause quite a lot of damage if not controlled properly. Okay, not Creed anymore but the other hunters can cause damage and have at times. That's why there was no Statue of Liberty any more. It was completely wrecked in the fight between Sabra and Chamber.

No, he really had no choice. The Sentinels will be built he was sure. The decision was really out of his hands. The project needed to be completed, or Dr. Trask would be furious. He had financed enough and could not simply refuse the scientist any longer. Rogue and Wolverine needed to be found immediately.


End file.
